When I Was Mortal

Within the first few sentences of this dazzling collection of short stories by the acclaimed Spanish writer Javier Marías, you realize, with a thrilling sense of recognition, that you are in the hands of a master storyteller of Jamesian or Borgesian stature.

Intelligent and inventive, Marías carefully pieces together incident, motive and character into tightly constructed, ornate fabrications that never wholly obscure the black, restive heart that lies at their center.